Sobeys (Empire Company Ltd) is the second-largest national food retailer in Canada. Operating over 1,600 retail stores and employs approximately 129,000 people across its portfolio of banners.

In January 2018, Ocado Group signed a partnership agreement with Sobeys to launch an online grocery business in Canada using the end-to-end solutions within the Ocado Smart Platform (OSP).

“Customers in Ontario and Quebec love Voila”
Pierre St-Laurent, President & CEO, Empire and Sobeys Inc

Partnership updates      

In 2020, Sobeys' online business, Voilà, enabled by OSP, launched for the first time. Today, the business serves customers across multiple Canadian markets, with fulfilment supported both through two CFCs in Toronto and Montreal, and Ocado’s AI-powered in store fulfilment software (ISF) in 87 stores nationwide.

In 2026, we announced an update to our partnership, highlighting a pragmatic approach to refining the network and placing our partnership on the right footing to secure long-term, sustainable growth in the Canadian market. 

This included addressing some key challenges from early network planning decisions, in particular where the market has not developed as anticipated. It has also led to agreement on deepening our partnership in key markets.

As part of the decision to refine the network, Sobeys chose to close its third CFC in Calgary, largely due to the Alberta grocery e-commerce market's size and the rate of expansion being slower than originally anticipated.

At the same time, we announced plans to deploy new technology into Sobeys' operations in Toronto and Montreal, including the delivery of 'Ocado Swift Router', a functionality designed to enable a higher proportion of same day and short-lead time orders to be served from CFCs. This also includes the option for Ocado-fulfilled orders to be integrated with third party platforms, such as online aggregators.

Ocado and Sobeys have also agreed on a number of further actions to place the partnership on a strong footing for continued long term growth.